The present invention relates to a firearm safety device, and more particularly it relates to a cylinder block for securing a firearm.
Firearms come in a variety of designs including the revolving firearm also known as the revolver. A revolver, which can be a pistol or a rifle, includes a cylinder containing plurality of chambers. Each chamber can hold a cartridge. In most modern firearms the cartridge is a metallic cartridge including a case, primer, powder, and projectile or bullet. With “percussive” revolvers, each cylinder holds a charge including a ball or shot and powder which is ignited when the hammer strikes a percussion cap. Examples of “percussive” revolvers include Colt pistols and revolving rifles of which both original models and copies are in use and manufacture.
The cylinder revolves around a central axis to align each chamber, in turn, with the barrel placing the cartridge or charge in an appropriate position for the hammer to strike the primer or percussion cap. The hammer strikes the primer or percussion cap to fire the revolver, igniting the powder and propelling the bullet from the chamber and out through the barrel. The rotation of the cylinder is caused by either the hammer being manually cocked, as in the “single action” or “double action” revolver, or through the use of the trigger in the double action revolver. The cylinder may revolve in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, depending on the design of the firearm.
Firearm safety devices are used to secure a firearm thereby preventing unintended and/or unauthorized firing by a person handling the firearm. However, for a variety of reasons typical known firearm safety devices do not meet the needs of firearm owners.
Firearms safety devices known commonly as “trigger locks” block access to and actuation of the trigger. However these trigger locks do not prevent the rotation of the cylinder in single-action or double-action revolvers. Thus, the cylinder could be rotated by cocking the hammer, which would place a cartridge a position in which it would be aligned with the hammer. In this position, the hammer could be struck, or dropped with sufficient force to break the half-cock or full-cock notch, or to “bounce” the sear from the engagement with either of these notches, thereby firing the weapon.
Trigger locks have used “cable based attachments” to restrict movement or rotation of a cylinder in some revolvers. These arrangements use a “cable” which is inserted through the opening of the frame of the revolver and/or inserted through one of the chambers of the cylinder. In many revolvers the cable cannot be inserted through the individual chambers of the cylinder due to the design of the firearm, requiring that the cylinder be opened in the case of double action revolvers, or removed from the single action revolver in order to make use of the “cable”. This allows debris or other forms of material to more easily enter the barrel, chambers, or forcing cone, which increases the likelihood of introducing an unintentional obstruction which can create a hazardous condition for the shooter and those in proximity to the shooter when the firearm is fired. Cables used in this manner can also be difficult and time consuming to remove.
Accordingly, it has been considered desirable to develop a new and improved firearm safety device which would overcome the foregoing difficulties and meet the above-stated needs while providing better and more advantageous results.